Thank You; Spring in-person classes

1-24-22

Dear faculty and instructors,

A big thanks to all of you for your efforts in maintaining the academic continuity for our students in Spring 2022. In particular, I want to applaud the efforts of the faculty, advisors, and staff members who put in tremendous energy to ensure that all students in the lab classes that required proof of vaccination against COVID-19, or a medical or religious exemption, were in compliance by the January 21 deadline. We have ~550 students in these classes, and we reached an impressive 99% compliance by the deadline. We will continue to work with the remaining few students to ensure that they have alternate course options to pursue this semester, such as these late-start classes, should they choose that route.

Thank you also for your continued adaptation and flexibility as you navigate yet another challenging semester. At the start of the semester, I sent guidance about the Spring 2022 face-to-face / in-person classes. That message noted that if you wished to delay the in-person interactions for your course by a week or two and deem it appropriate for meeting the student learning outcomes, you were approved to do so. This was a faculty choice and not a requirement.

Some face-to-face courses continue to face disruption due to multiple COVID related absences and other reasons. Please continue to remind your students to not attend classes in-person if they are unwell. In such cases, if you need to further delay in-person interactions or work in a hybrid setup for another week or two, and deem it appropriate for meeting the student learning outcomes, please use your best judgment and do so. If you do elect to delay in person interactions, please inform your Dean/Director in writing. If you are teaching in an externally-accredited program, please contact your Dean/Director prior to making adjustments to ensure all face-to-face requirements for regulatory or accreditation are being met. Where there are special needs or larger adaptations needed in your ongoing classes, please work with your Dean/Director on getting their formal approval.

Thank you once again for all your efforts to minimize disruption and provide academic continuity while prioritizing safety, access, and student needs.

Sincerely,

Anupma Prakash, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor